A Few Surprises Along the Way
by Karen19
Summary: It is 1963, Hawkeye is headed to a reunion with the people he served with in Korea, he isn't the only one with shocking developments in their life. Updated!
1. Chapter 1

Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce was as relaxed as he would ever be at 30,000 feet. He and his wife were traveling, by airplane, to DC for a reunion. Ten years had past since the end of the 'police action' known as the Korean War.

He'd nearly lost his sanity, permanently, at the very end of his sojourn there. However, Dr. Sidney Friedman helped him recover, just in time to spend the last few days of with his unit. At the reunion, someone would say that life for Hawkeye had most definitely changed in the intervening decade.

The 4077th had two reunions, but he hadn't been able to attend either one. The first reunion held a year after their return; he had a great excuse as he and his wife were taking their newborn daughter home from the hospital. He'd wired Colonel Potter, the host of the reunion, and said he wished he could come but wasn't able get the time off, after all. This was quite true as his area of Maine was inundated with a higher than normal pregnancy rate. The last time there had been such an influx of babies due around the same time was a few years before, at the end of World War II. Hawk had been responsible for delivering close to half of those born that spring and summer, in Crabapple Cove. There had just been no way for him to get away.

There had been a fifth year reunion, in 1958. He'd missed the reunion for a more serious reason as Hawkeye was a patient at the time. He'd had poliomyelitis in the winter of 1954, coming down with the disease just before the vaccine was discovered, like many survivors of the disease, his life was forever changed.

It meant the end of his surgical career, as he was no longer able to use the fine motor skills needed for performing surgery. He was still a practicing doctor as a general practitioner. To his amazement, he now had another career, one he truly loved and never would have expected while in Korea. His new career wasn't the reason he had been a patient instead of attending the reunion. Truth be told, the excuse was very embarrassing; he'd gone sailing with friends and had simply physically overdone it. He wasn't going anywhere for several weeks or he was at risk of having to stop both of his careers for good.

He didn't want to do that as he felt he was too young to give up on life so he'd stayed home, actually he stayed with his father. His wife traveled to the reunion alone, as she herself had been at the 4077th. Their daughter, Melissa, stayed with her maternal grandmother during the reunion as originally planned.

His wife had told the reunion attendees that she hadn't kept in contact, she was happily married but her husband was unable to come because of a recurrence of a chronic illness. They had agreed she would' tell her them to whom she was married. If asked she admitted that his name was Benny, and that he was a teacher. She would use his mother's maiden name as an alias if pressed to give her last name and the address for any mail was his aunt's address in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His aunt thought they were crazy for hiding the fact they were married, even after five years of matrimony. However, Ben was her only nephew and Muriel Franklin she still spoiled him, even though he was now a grown man.

She showed everyone several pictures of Melissa, making sure to take the ones that did not include her husband. Everyone agreed that Melissa looked like her mother, except for her dark hair. She admitted that said that her husband had dark hair, when he was younger, but he'd gone prematurely gray after their wedding.

She wasn't lying that her husband was a teacher. Hawk had been the chemistry teacher at the high school for several years now. The township of Crabapple Cove was small and so was the school district. When the chemistry teacher was accidentally shot and killed during a hunting trip during Hawk's long recuperation from polio, the school board had asked him to fill in. Teaching it turned out, was to pardon the pun, just what the doctor ordered. Hawk took to it as a duck to water, and he loved molding young minds.

Over the next few years, he taught physics as well, and when the health class covered first aid, he explained everything from a doctor's perspective. Several students had later come up to him and told them that they appreciated learning the why as well as the how.

The amount of hours he spent at the high school had increased each year and now he taught school half time. He was at the clinic in the afternoon, spending eight hours a week at the town hospital/clinic. His father had finally retired, as there was a new doctor in town seeing a many of the patients.

Since the new doctor was a she, most of the male patients wanted Hawk or the other male doctor in town to remain on as their doctor, so he scheduled his appointments for the afternoon. This worked out for all concerned.

The polio had weakened Hawk's legs, and he now used a cane when he became overly tired, so the 'infernal cane' as Hawk called it was now in the overhead compartment.

His wife was currently snuggling next to him; she'd been busy the last few days, for she had been working a full shift and getting everything ready for their vacation/reunion. Just hours before they were to leave there had been an emergency that threatened to cancel his wife's trip. Less than a mile offshore there had been an explosion on a trawler, not too surprisingly, there were serious injuries and she had to operate.

As soon as the patient was stable in recovery, Dr. Graham took over. He knew how important the reunion was. Retired for nearly a year, Daniel Pierce drove her to the airport and she was able to catch the same flight as her family.

They had decided, during their belated honeymoon, that traveling went smoothly if he set out what he needed and she packed. As was her habit, she had everything packed before leaving for her shift at the hospital.

If left up to Hawkeye everything ended up wrinkled and or important items left at home.

Snuggling next her husband, Margaret Houlihan Pierce was looking forward to the reunion, it had been a long five years since she had seen her any of them, and she'd changed. During the previous reunion, she'd been attending medical school; it had meant long separations from her family as she attended medical school in New York City; every month Hawk and Melissa would drive down to her studio apartment. They joined her on long weekends and during most of the school vacation times.

It was one advantage to Hawk being a teacher; it gave them at least a week every four months of seeing each other more than once a month. As soon as she possibly could return to the area of Crabapple Cove, she did. The last two years of her residency, she'd spent at Portland General Hospital. It meant a long commute for nearly two years; but the payoff had been she was able to see her daughter and her husband regularly.

The hospital administration had been nice to her; and it helped to be a Pierce, there had been a Dr. Pierce working at that hospital for over a century. She worked a shift and a half and then had a shift and a half off. With her experience of working the hellish hours during wartime, she was accustomed to it, more so than the others in her residency were.

The house had been quiet the past week because Melissa, who had just turned nine, spent time with Margaret's parents who had reconciled to the younger couples eternal amazement. The years apart had made the couple realize they really couldn't live without each other.

"I'm going to miss the kids tonight." Margaret told her husband as she woke up, enjoying the closeness without interruptions from her beloved offspring.

"Me too, what really surprised me was Al said that they would watch Danny. I think he's finally accepting him as a grandson."

"I think you mean great-grandson" she gave her husband a swat on the shoulder as she said that.

"If we're too young to be grandparents then he's too young to be a great-grandfather."

"True."

The rest of the flight went smoothly and soon they were outside of Washington DC. Family would meet them; not the Houlihan's who were staying at the Virginia shore with their grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The person meeting them at the gate was their son-in-law. Even after four years she felt weird having a son-in-law.

She and Hawk had assumed guardianship of two teen's just months after Hawk's illness. Their parents had been killed in a house fire. If they had been home, and not in Portland for a high school basketball game they too would have perished. As it was, Hawk and Margaret had finished raising them.

Marcus to Margaret's delight and Hawk's dismay, had attended the Air Force Academy, and was currently serving in Germany. Their "eldest" daughter Monica had gone to school in Philadelphia where she met and married someone years older than herself. He was actually closer in age to the Pierce's.

When the engaged couple appeared in Crabapple Cove asking for the traditional parental blessing Margaret and Hawk had nearly passed out. It wasn't the age difference --it was because Monica's fiancé was someone they knew because they'd served with him in Korea. They realized the depth of love the two had for each other and whole-heartedly gave their blessing.

Monica was just beginning the eighth month of her second pregnancy. Their firstborn was with the Houlihan's for a couple of evenings with his niece Melissa.

Her daughter exited the nearby restroom and Margaret walked over and gave her a big hug. "You look radiant."

"Mamma I look like a blimp."

"I know the feeling, but it will pass soon enough."

Margaret's son-in-law asked where Hawk was. "He's waiting for everyone to get off the plane, since his leg was cramping, when that happens he walks slow. Speak of the devil."

Hawk went over to his daughter and son in law and gave them each a hug. "You are looking radiant, Monica."

"I totally concur, but then I'm biased." Monica's husband said as headed towards baggage claim. Within twenty minutes, they were on their way to the parking lot. There was plenty of room for the luggage since they did not have either Melissa or Danny with them.

"The plan is for me to drop you off at the hotel and then go directly to the reunion. This way we can pull off a few surprises." There was major twinkling going on in his eyes. He knew his marriage would be a shock more than a few.

A block before the hotel he pulled over and departed the vehicle. Ben drove the remaining block. The two families entered the hotel. Monica and her husband had already checked in so she told the Pierce's to meet her in ten minutes.

The Pierce family registered and went to their room. They changed into the clothes they were wearing for the reunion.

To confuse not already aware they decided to stagger their arrivals. Margaret would walk in together with her son in law; Ben and Monica would arrive together. This was a surefire way to confuse people and create a bombshell when the truth came out.

As Margaret neared the room where they were meeting she saw Trapper John MacIntyre, she wasn't sure whom the other woman was, it didn't look like the picture of the wife she'd seen in Korea. "Trapper, I'm glad to see you."

"Hot...Major Houlihan" He changed what he was about to say. "I didn't know you were coming, from what I've heard they lost contact with you."

"I heard about the reunion through Father Mulcahy, ran into him about five years ago. We've kept in contact. This is?"

"My wife, Jessica, she went by Louise when we lived back East, when I transferred to San Francisco, she decided to go by her first name."

"It is nice to finally meet you." Jessica MacIntyre said truthfully.

"Major, you seem different, happier than you were back then." Trapper acknowledged and queried simultaneously.

"After you went back to the States, after my divorce I changed; I'm not the person I was in Korea."

They didn't have a chance to talk further as they walked into the room, the Honeycutt's, Potters were there as well as the Winchesters, O'Reilly's and the Klinger's. There were several people that she thought she recognized, many of the nurses and support staff. In fact it look as if the only members of the 4077 that weren't there were Hawk and Frank Burns and Father Mulcahy.

She was bombarded with greetings; it had been five years since she had any contact with most of the people. There was a sudden lull in the conversations.

"Lt. Colonel Burns". Colonel Potter was the first one to comment. Margaret turned around and sure enough, the thin-lipped former major had entered, along with a woman who had to be Louise. It appeared that she still wore the pants in the family. The look she was getting from Louise could have killed her.

"Colonel Potter, it's nice to see you." Burns said with his normal false sincerity.

"I take it this is the Missus." Sherman Potter knew this was going to be one of the powder keg moments of the reunion and was hoping everything would go smoothly.

"Yes it is, Louise I would like for you to meet my Commanding Officer, Colonel Sherman Potter, his wife, Captain Honnicutt and his wife, Corporal O'Reilly, Corporal Klinger, and Major Houlihan." He did not know Winchester so he did not bother to introduce him. He knew who the wives were because of the pictures he'd seen.

"Major Houlihan, I didn't realize you were going to be here. I didn't see your name on the registration list. And I don't see your husband, the Colonel here."

"The reason you didn't see my name on the registration list, is it isn't under Penobscott. Donald and I were divorced six months after we got married. However, my husband will be arriving momentarily."

"Excuse me" a young waiter interrupted. "Ma'am you have a phone call. You can take it out in the hall."

"Excuse me, but I've been expecting this phone call, I'll just be a minute." She left the room, and went to the phone that the clerk showed was for hotel guests. When she exited the room, she saw Hawkeye and Monica coming out of the elevator. "This works out perfectly." She told them "I need to talk to Ron and then I'm free for the weekend from medical duties."

Margaret talked with Dr. Graham, regarding her most recent patient. He'd been unavailable when she called from the room and she was waiting to hear how the patient was fairing

When Hawkeye and Monica entered there was a little bit of a stir in the crowd as they noted the age difference between the two who had just entered. His escort was obviously pregnant.

The look that Burns gave Hawkeye could have frozen fire. His son- in-law wanted to punch Frank for giving him that look, because it was a degrading look to his beloved wife.

"Pierce; nice of you to finally join us, everyone is here." Burns being his normal snotty voiced self.

Potter gave Pierce a look that said play nice. "Between Monica and me we aren't moving too quickly tonight."

"Monica, when are you due?" Muriel Potter tried to change the subject to everyone's relief."

"According to my doctor I'm due in a month, but Danny was early so my guess is three weeks."

"So you have a little boy, how old is he?" Muriel asked. Knowing what the answer was, but wanting to lessen the tension in the room.

"He's almost two and the apple of his poppa's eye." Hawk said, knowing that most would think he was child's father. Especially since, he had a proprietary hand around her waist.

He saw Margaret enter the room. 'Showtime', he thought.

"Hawk, what's with the cane?" Rizzo, who had just joined the officers, asked, noticing Hawk using the device.

"It's either use the infernal thing or wear a leg brace, and I don't like to use it, especially in the summer time."

"What happened?" Potter asked with fatherly concern. He and BJ were the only ones Hawk had kept in contact with, but he didn't want the others to know that just yet.

"Polio, nearly ten years ago" was the terse reply.

"How are you doing?" This question was from Nurse Able who had lost two family members to the dread disease.

"Pretty good, I have my bad days and my good days. I try to remember to keep myself in shape and didn't wear myself out as I did right before the last reunion. Maggie was not happy with me."

"Maggie?" Burns asked in that supercilious tone of his.

"My wife."

"Did I hear my name being taken in vain?" Margaret said as she rejoined the group.

"We were talking about his wife Maggie, Margaret, she has the same name as you." Burns informed her not catching on.

"Hawk, your husband said to give you a kiss when I saw you." She came closer, and to the surprise of those who hadn't seen the goodbye kiss ten years earlier, she gave him a kiss, and not a quick one.

"Am I missing something here?" Radar said, catching on but not giving away the secret.

"Houlihan Pierce, I missed you." Hawk said as he hugged his wife. The Pierce part he said only into his wife's ear.

"Doctor Pierce, I missed you too."

"Are they always like this?" Potter asked to no one in particular.

"Yes, they are, and I think they set a good example for Monica, Marcus and the kids." Mulcahy stated.

"If Monica isn't Pierce's wife, why did he walk in with her?"

"Because her husband has responsibilities here tonight and she needed to rest." Mulcahy said taking his rightful place at his wife's side. He put his arm around her waist, and gave her a light peck on the lips.

"Husband?" This question was from Louise Burns. Frank had told her the priest at the camp had been Catholic.

"I think you owe me, Dad, we made it here, and didn't get discovered." Mulcahy said smartly.

"Dad?" Nurse Kellye queried.

"Father Mulcahy, why did you just call Hawkeye Dad?" Nurse Kellye asked the question the others were thinking.

The former priest explained, "He was Monica's guardian so now he is my father in law."

"Last time I checked the church doesn't allow priests to marry." This was Louise Burns again.

"They don't, I resigned when I realized I would rather have her in my life. Al was able to get a transfer arranged; I'm still in the Army. I was on staff with the boxing team for a few years, now we're about to move to Fort Lewis, Washington, where I'll be on staff as a counselor."

"Don't you need a degree in that?" Burns asked, knowing the requirements needed for the position.

"I'm not been the only one going to school the past few years in the family. I think the only one who hasn't been in school in the past five years is Danny, Monica and John Francis's son." Margaret commented.

"What classes have you been taking Hawk? The Major said you've all been in school."

"Well, the only classes I've been taking are continuing education ones, but I've been teaching classes for close to eight years. It was suppose to be a temporary situation, but I love teaching. Since I don't operate it keeps my mind sharp."

"What do you mean you don't operate?" Colonel Burns demanded. "Did you get your license suspended?" He could hope against hope.

"A little over nine years ago, shortly before we got custody of Monica and her brother, I came down with polio, it affected my legs, I can't stand for the long periods of time that is required in surgery as well as the small motor function I needed to perform surgery with my hands."

"I'm surprised that they gave you custody." Frank stated. "The fact is you're a divorcee, factor in Pierce's illness, you should have been denied custody."

"That likely would have been a problem except that the people in the county have known my family for generations; the judge has known me and my dad since I was an infant. He had no problems with it, plus it was what their parents wanted, and it was in writing. There were no objections."

"Al? as in Houlihan?" Klinger asked, realizing what the former padre had said.

"Yes, he didn't want me to call him grandpa, and it would confuse the Pierce kids, so I call him either General or Al.

"Pierce kids?" Why would Pierce's kids call General Houlihan grandfather?"

Because, I'm the one married to his daughter Colonel Burns." Pierce stated the obvious to Burns, who was the only one not to figure that out already."

"So you and Margaret are in-laws?"

"No, we're married, as in to each other; we have been since before the end of the war."

"What!!!"

That was news to most of the group.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

"Winchester, remember the conference you were to attend but you had the flu?" Charles nodded that he did. He'd been sick in more ways that one that day, since the twenty-four hour bug had prevented him from getting out of the prison that was camp. One of the speakers scheduled had been a distant cousin and he'd been looking forward to seeing someone he considered a peer. He'd been heartsick when Potter had ordered him to stay at camp and Pierce had been given the chance to go in his stead.

"Well, let's just say the two of us did some talking on the way there." Hawk told everyone. "We went to each of the meetings, didn't skip a one, the major wouldn't let me." Hawk grinned. "Our second night there we found a nice out of the way café and—to make a long story short, I proposed."

"I was somewhat surprised when he asked me, since we weren't even dating." Margaret admitted. She thought back to the night her life changed forever. "We decided to look for rings, I told Ben if I didn't find anything we both really loved, that we could wait until we were both in Tokyo again, or stateside, whichever came first."

"I didn't mind, since I had in mind for us to use the ring that my dad gave my mom when they were married. We didn't find any rings that night because we had to be back at the hotel where the conference was by eight that evening." Ben had been secretly relieved she'd not fallen in love with any of the rings, his bank account was a little on the low side at that point. "I'm getting ahead of myself, but that is the ring she has on her finger today."

"The next morning the seminars were cancelled when there was a fire at the hotel next to ours. We decided to go for a stroll. There was a small Protestant church, and we went inside to get dry as we had a sudden downpour. The pastor was there, and asked if we were looking for someone to perform a wedding ceremony. We looked at each other and to my amazement; I answered the man with an emphatic yes. So we married in Tokyo while there for a conference." Margaret said with a smile.

"You both came back in a very good mood as I recall." Colonel Potter said. Winchester and Honnicut nodded in agreement.

"You weren't quite as hard on us after that, Major," Nurse Baker admitted. "Now I know why. Or at least you were until the Fourth of July." She knew everyone who'd been there at the end of the war knew that Hawk had a mental breakdown after the trip to the beach. For the few that hadn't been there at the time, she wasn't about to tell them.

"Why, what happened then? That was less than a month before the end of the war." Trapper asked. He'd never kept in contact with his friend.

"To put it succinctly, I went loco. There was an incident on the way back from an outing to the beach; nearly the whole unit went that day. On the way back we had to pick up some Korean civilians, shortly after that we had to all be very quiet, because a North Korean unit was in the area. One of the locals had her baby with her, and the baby was crying and to save all our lives she smothered her own infant." Trapper and Jessica were astounded, and both looked a little sick hearing the story for the first time. Louise Burns was also sickened by this, she understood deep down why that unknown mother had sacrificed the life of her child so that everyone in the truck could survive. Time had apparently made it possible for Hawk to be able to say what happened without falling apart.

"A few days later, Hawk lost it—mentally, and Sidney came for him." BJ explained. "He spent most of the month of July as a patient in the mental ward." The look on Frank's face was priceless, because of its cruel nature.

"So Doctor Perfect went crazy, and then a few years later he lost the ability to perform surgery. Boo hoo" Frank looked like he could dance a jig. Hawk's own mind and body had brought down Frank's nemesis.

"We knew you were worried about Hawkeye, but you two had been inseparable for months" Nurse Kellye commented to Margaret. "I ran into Private Kulani a few years ago, he told me that you two had the steamiest kiss he'd ever seen when the unit was disbanded, that last day. I can't say I'm surprised to hear you two married."

Winchester surprised everyone with his comment. "Max and Soon Lee weren't nearly as explicit as you two and it was there wedding day." The twinkle that had occasionally been in his eyes in Korea was evident today.

"I thought your wife's name was Laverne?" Burns turned to Klinger. He wanted to get the spotlight off of him, since everyone was making him out to be a fool and that just wouldn't do.

"That was my ex; our marriage was shorter than the Major's to Penobscott." Klinger said, and nearly everyone laughed.

"Remember, we'd been apart for close to a month, it would be a few weeks before Margaret would get a chance to go stateside, do you blame a husband and wife for wanting to make a kiss last?" Hawk said, with more than a little color in his cheeks. "We hadn't had a chance to be together before the truce was signed."

Margaret took over, "I was in Maine by Labor Day, a few days later, in fact that Saturday we had a renewal of our vows in the church Hawk's family has attended for generations. Of course, my parents weren't able to attend; it took the birth of our daughter Melissa to get Daddy to come to terms that I'd married for love, this time."

"That still doesn't explain how the Padre ended up your son-in-law." Rizzo said. Several of the nurses nodded their head in agreement. They were curious how the man who'd managed to stay true to his vows during Korea had changed enough to leave the priesthood. How Hawkeye and Margaret figured in was also a very intriguing question they all wanted the answer to.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

"I think I'll leave that to my son in law," Margaret said, with more than a little humor in her voice.

"What most of you didn't know, because I asked BJ to cover for me, I lost most of my hearing near the end of the war." Mulcahy confessed.

"So when you went to get those prisoners out of the line of fire, you were injured more than you let on." Sherman Potter gave both Mulcahy and Honnicutt a look that said they were in trouble for not disclosing the severity of the injury a decade earlier.

"Yes, I was." Mulcahy admitted.

"I persuaded BJ I would get it looked after. I did eventually when I realized I couldn't hear the children at the orphanage very well. I went down to Seoul, at the time I was still a chaplain. I told the doctor there I was still suffering the effects of an injury. He figured out rather quickly I was having trouble hearing what was said." He smiled ruefully before continuing "actually I nearly got my face slapped by one of the nurses, it wasn't any of you, as I found out later she'd just arrived in country the week before, she'd never been at any MASH unit. I thought she said something, well all I did was ask her what I thought she said. The doctor heard and saw the whole episode. He calmed down the nurse by telling her that he suspected I'd lost some hearing and hadn't intentionally propositioned her. After several tests I was told I had to wait until I was back in the States before they could operate as there were only a few places that did that surgery and would routinely expect a positive outcome. I was fortunate they were able to repair most of the damage, though I have a higher probability to be quite deaf when I'm older." Several of the nurses he'd worked with looked at him with empathy instead of pity, Mulcahy realized he should have told them ten years earlier that he'd had trouble hearing.

"After my surgery I took a leave of absence from the priesthood, partly to recover, and to think, and during that time I had knew I had to leave the priesthood."

The look of shock on several faces told Mulcahy he'd surprised more than a few people that night with his story. He took a breath before continuing "I realized I wanted to get training to become a counselor, either in the army or for veterans affairs, I didn't care which, but I knew I could make a difference having seen combat." This was the hard part, he knew there were a few practicing Catholics in the group, they might take offense at what he said next. "If I wanted to stay a priest, I had to stay a priest. If I wanted to become a counselor or psychologist, I had to make a hard decision. Thus, the Vatican, well, they forced me to make a very hard decision, to stay in the priesthood and respect the vows that for all intents and purposes I made when I was sixteen."

They realized he'd decided to join the priesthood before he'd graduated from high school; several had changed their original major to medicine or nursing.

"I knew I wanted to treat their spiritual bodies, but I also knew I could heal their psychological bodies as well if I had some more training, and that meant more schooling. I knew I'd be able to stay in the Army after my surgery after BJ told the fitness board I'd already had counseling training already, after all isn't that is part of what chaplain does. They agreed, I stayed in the Army. I moved back to Philadelphia where I went to school part time and went into the reserves. It took me longer to finish because I decided to go for my doctorate. So you all can call me Dr. Mulcahy." He took a bow as most of the group applauded. Burns was not one of them, he had no appreciation for anyone in the mental health field and it had deteriorated ever since his short stint as a patient after Margaret's wedding to Penobscott.

"So when did you meet your wife?" Nurse Bigelow asked. This question was on the tip of several people's tongue. She just beat them to it.

"I was getting there; I had to explain what happened after Korea before getting to that." He stopped for a moment as he saw that Monica was tired and wanted to sit down, so he led her to a nearby chair before continuing.

"As I was saying, I moved back to Philadelphia where I was working in one of the deaf schools. Surprisingly it was okay for me to work there, never mind I didn't have the qualifications to teach or be a counselor there and I certainly couldn't be the priest since it was a public school, and I'd left the priesthood. I think I got the job because the bishop I had to talk to regarding my future obviously knew of my plans to attend graduate school and had to give me the bad news that I had to make a choice. He also knew I'd been temporarily deaf. To my eternal amazement he put in a good word for me with the board of the school, actually he arranged for me to have an interview with the school board. I think it's because his nephew is deaf, the same age of most of the students at the school. I want to think he wanted someone there who could really relate to the students." Those who had children in school understood what the former priest was trying to say.

"The problem was it was only part time, also the wages were not enough to live on, remember as a priest I'd taken a vow of poverty, so I knew good and well what I could survive on, I also worked at a youth center located very close to the school. Frankly, I enjoyed working with the kids there as well. and assisted with the boxing program. Between the two jobs, and getting into the swing of studying again I was too busy to have much of a personal life for a few years. After all it had been a few years since I'd cracked the books, not counting all the time I spent in sermon preparation."

"Not that any of us attended with much regularity," BJ admitted. A few spouses gave their mates a look of the truth is coming out, but for the most part they already knew that church attendance had been minimal during that time.

"Sherm, I'm ashamed of you," Mildred said, with a twinkle in her eye, even to this day; she had trouble getting her husband into the church pew unless he'd had Saturday night off.

"Mildred, you had to be there" was all he said, and his wife knew what he meant. They hadn't survived over forty years of marriage for nothing.

Trying to get his story back on track Mulcahy continued, "I was saying that I'd been at the Franklin school for about two years, at the Revere Avenue Center for just about as long. It was the beginning of the fall semester for most of the colleges and universities. There was an agreement with the several of the universities to have their students work with the children as part of their studies. That fall there was one exceptional student at the center. She got along very well with the students; as her humor was infections, her name, Monica Lynnette Muir."

'Not Pierce?" Charles Winchester asked

Margaret explained. "When we were granted guardianship of the Muir's, they were already in high school, we all agreed there was no need for them to give up the last name their parents gave them."

Monica finally spoke up, "I knew who John was as I'd seen pictures of everyone from Korea in a photo album Mom and Dad had. I have to admit I didn't tell him who I was for awhile." She thought back to the moment she finally told him who she was.

Flashback

Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Fall 1955

"John, I know you are going to spend most of the Thanksgiving weekend with the kids here, and I wish I could too, but I promised my guardians I would spend my first Thanksgiving at the university back home." She'd found out his legal first name was John and called him that from the start.

"So where do your guardians live?" He'd become extremely fond of this young woman, in fact John Francis Mulcahy was facing the realization he felt more than he should towards her, considering the age difference. He was actually glad Monica was going to be away over the weekend and planned to keep busy so he wouldn't have to think about her while she was gone.

"It's a small township, about an hour out of Portland, Maine called Crabapple Cove, it's right on the Atlantic. I've lived there my entire life, until I came down here for school." Monica said, she when he heard the name of the town she would get a response.

"I knew someone in Korea from there, you might have heard about him, Ben Pierce?" If she was a lifelong resident she'd know Hawk's legal name.

"Yes, I do. He and his wife are now my guardians. John I wish I could talk more. I need to go if I'm going to get back to the dorm before curfew. See you Monday." With that, she left the center, leaving a startled Mulcahy behind. He wondered whom Hawk had married, was it someone local or had he and Margaret Houlihan finally admitted there was an attraction between each other.

End Flashback

Monica explained, "we didn't date officially for over a year, partly because of John's schedule also we dealt with the fact the school I was attending has a strict dating policy for freshman. at the time it was just about as strict for sophomores. So for the most part, the only time we saw each other was at the center or 'happened' to meet each other when with other people. I knew he like me, and I liked him, but we had a few things to work out, if we were going to get serious."

"I was still a practicing Catholic, even though I'd left the priesthood, but when I realized I had the perfect chance to see her most of the day on Sunday if I attended her church so I stopped attending my church. It caused a rift between my sister the sister and I for a little while, since she hadn't really understood why I'd left the priesthood in the first place" Mulcahy explained carefully.

"It was one of the sticking points we had I'm not against Catholicism, per se. I just don't agree with several of the church's points of view." Monica explained, just as carefully "We talked about it for several months, we located some former priests who'd left because they'd wanted to marry. We weren't at that point yet in our relationship, but I could tell John was seriously thinking about it."

"I still had at least two more years of schooling left, I didn't want to marry Monica until after she graduated. I proposed to her, and she accepted, my only condition was our wedding take place after graduation, which wouldn't be for another year and a half. By then I knew who her guardians were, and a bit apprehensive on getting the blessing for the wedding."

"We knew that she was seeing a John Mulcahy, and for some reason we both didn't think it was the Mulcahy we both knew. Monica neglected to mention he was several years older than her, just that she was seeing a graduate student who was getting his doctorate in psychology."

"Because of my work schedule and my reserve duties, I wasn't ever able to go up to see her when she went home. Just in case they recognized my handwriting, we had one of the students fill out the envelope when I sent her letters."

"However, after we were engaged I knew it was time to meet the parents. To say they were stunned was an understatement. Daniel, Ben's dad had figured it out but had kept quiet, and he has a film reel about the initial meeting."


End file.
